長洲HK Cheung Chau HK

Southeast Cheung Chau boasts paths that wind around headlands and curl up and over hillsides, passing through woodland, and near to naturally sculpted giant boulders, once grand but now ruined houses, a couple of temples, a tiny nunnery, and cliffs dropping to the sea. The main trail here is rather fancifully named the Mini Great Wall, but you can find other less known yet still fascinating paths to explore.

Perhaps the easiest route to the southeast is the path south from Tung Wan beach, to smaller Kwun Yam Wan. Just above Kwun Yam Wan is a small, garish red temple - and above this are a couple of trail junctions in a small valley (Fa Peng valley, to me). From one of these junctions, steps lead uphill - towards the Mini Great Wall.

Video clip showing two male Rat Snakes in combat - the winner (strongest) can win rights to territory and breeding.
Seen in Fa Peng valley this afternoon.

So this is where it all began, the launding point for the career of Hong Kong's gold medal winning Olympian, Lee Lai-shan (San San): The Cheung Chau Windsurfing Centre. Set on a tiny headland between Cheung Chau's two main beaches, the centre commands fine views of the island, and eastwards to Lamma and Hong Kong Island.

On the ground inside the lower entrance is a big white circle, painted around a point where a demonstration windsurfer is set up for landlubbers' lessons. It is divided into eighths, and annotated "90, beam reaching"" and "upwind beating"; two arrows lead out, then turn and point to the foot of the steps, where another important label is painted: "Beer".

At the top of the steps, at home among the crowd thronging the open-air bar, is Lai Kan, the centre's owner and teacher, and the man who introduced niece San San to windsurfing.

There is little written history regarding Cheung Chau before the late 19th century. But even early last century, some islanders said their families had settled on Cheung Chau hundreds of years ago, and we can guess something regarding the very early history based on some archaeological finds and the history of south China.

Fragments of pottery, shells and a bone arrowhead found at Po Yue Wan (Italian Beach) show there were humans on Cheung Chau during the Late Neolihic - and (though dates are considered unreliable) perhaps as long as six thousand years ago. Indeed, as human relics have been found from 5000BC (and - at one site near Sai Kung - even from 35,000-39,000 years old), it's likely that people have been in the Cheung Chau area for 7000 years or more.

But in the earliest days, people may not have lived here all the time - as Cheung Chau was not yet an island.

Though Cheung Chau has surely been settled - albeit not continuously - for thousands of years, it has only one well-known prehistoric site: the Bronze Age stone carving, just below the Warwick Hotel at Tung Wan. It's thought to be around 3500 years old, as the patterns carved into a granite outcrop are similar to those on pottery of similar age found in Hong Kong.
The carving is hardly exciting to look at, though it's one of Hong Kong's declared monuments, and is now protected by clear plastic screens. Though locals have surely been aware of it, the carving was discoved by a geologist in 1970.

Though Cheung Chau's hotels and holiday flats are modest compared to the fancy hotels in Hong Kong city, they also offer an "away from it all" experience compared to joints in densely packed Tsim Sha Tsui, Causeway Bay and Central. You can stay in places with balconies overlooking the beach and the South China Sea, with Hong Kong Island away to the east, and stroll the narrow streets, with no cars around unless the little police car trundles past.

雖然長洲的酒店和度假屋與香港的酒店比較之下，不算得上富麗堂皇，但是他們提供了"可遠離繁囂"的機會與地方。 在這裡，你可以在有露台的地方俯瞰沙灘和南邊的港島，街道不怎麼寬敞，因島上沒什麼車輛，只是偶爾會看到迷你警車駛過。